UN renews call for full access to Syria for chemical weapons inquiry

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon (right) speaks to the media with Ake Sellstrom (left), the head of the UN chemical weapons investigation team, before their meeting April 29, 2013 at UN headquarters in New York. (AFP Photo / Stan Honda)

The UN chief has urged Damascus to give its fact-finding team full access to sites where chemical weapons allegedly were used, stressing that he takes seriously the recent US report about the use of chemical weapon in Syria.

“A credible and comprehensive inquiry requires full access to
the sites where chemical weapons are alleged to have been used. I
again urge the Syrian authorities to allow the investigation to
proceed without delay and without any conditions,” UN
General-Secretary Ban Ki-moon told reporters in the UN headquarters
on Monday. He spoke ahead of the meeting with Ake Sellstrom, the
head of the UN inspection mission established in mid-March to
investigate several claims of chemical weapons attacks in
Syria.

“This is a crucial moment in our efforts to get the team on
the ground to carry out its important task,” Ban said.

“I take seriously the recent intelligence report of the
United States about the use of chemical weapons in Syria. On-site
activities are essential if the United Nations is to be able to
establish the facts and clear up all the doubts surrounding this
issue.”

The UN fact-finding team has been on stand-by and is ready to
deploy within 24 to 48 hours, with an advance team positioned in
Cyprus. The mission was established after a formal request from the
Syrian government to investigate the case.

The UN chief added that the investigators have already been
gathering and analyzing available information on alleged chemical
weapons attacks in Syria. These activities include possible visits
to relevant capitals.

Shown the evidence on which London based its assertion that
there was "limited but growing" evidence of chemical weapons
use by Syrian authorities, Sellstrom found it inconclusive, a
British diplomat said on conditions of anonymity, Reuters
reports.

The allegations that the Syrian government used chemical weapons
has become a crucial factor as it could lead to the US and its
allies stepping up involvement in the Syrian conflict. Earlier on
Friday US President Barack Obama said that the proof of the use of
chemical weapons in Syria would be a “game-changer.”

On Monday Obama took US concerns over the issue to Russian
President Vladimir Putin. "President Obama and President Putin
reviewed the situation in Syria, with President Obama underscoring
concern over Syrian chemical weapons," a White House statement
said.

He told a news conference in Moscow on Monday, “There are
states and external players who think that all means are good if
they lead to displacement of the Syrian regime. But the issue of
the use of weapons of mass destruction is too serious and no one
should play with it. I consider it inadmissible to use this issue
and speculate on it.”

“The blame for the fact that no one investigates the
particular incident that took place on March 19 and that still
causes universal concern should be put on the nations that attempt
to prevent the UN Secretary General from a simple and direct answer
to a simple and direct question,” the head of the Russian
Foreign Ministry added.

Sergey Lavrov was referring to the alleged chemical weapons
attack near the city of Aleppo in March. The Syrian government said
that rebels used a rocket with a chemical warhead killing 25 people
and injuring 86.